It’s difficult to determine a country’s economic health just by looking at trade statistics, but they can also offer a picture that you seldom get to see. Jennifer Kocs, an international trade representative at the Minnesota
Trade Office in St. Paul, offers these numbers to help put different African economies in different African countries in perspective.
Exports to Africa from the United States were about $19 billion in 2006. Minnesota’s piece of the pie? Exports to Africa from Minnesota were just over $164 million in 2006. Minnesota's largest markets in Africa in 2006 were South Africa ($64 million), Algeria ($24 million), and Morocco ($13 million). Egypt was just behind Morocco at $12.78 Million. (No African countries are on Minnesota’s list of top-25 export destinations.)
What is Minnesota exporting to Africa? Vehicles (such as all terrain vehicles) were the greatest export by value at $35 million, then machinery at over $32 million. Ores, slag, and ash came in at around $15 million, and $11.5 million in medical devices and components were exported.
In 2006, African economies grew at the fastest rate ever, according to the World Bank Group.
• South Africa’s economy grew at 5 percent
• Nigeria’s economy grew at 5 percent
• Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania’s economies grew at about 6 percent
• Liberia’s economy grew at almost 8 percent
Much of this is due to extraction and exploration of oil, diamonds, gold, and other resources and precious metals. African countries also produce agricultural products, such as cocoa, coffee, rubber, and timber. In Tanzania and South Africa, tourism continues to boost the economy.
